`I Think You Belong In Jail'

November 27, 1994

Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Miano held his nose recently and approved a plea bargain that will let a swindler stay out of prison if he pays back the victims he duped.

The judge's distaste was understandable. The deal stunk; it proved that an affluent crook can buy his freedom. Judge Miano said the only reason he agreed to the arrangement worked out between the prosecutor and defense attorney was his overriding concern for the victims of Samuel Cocopardi of Old Saybrook. The judge wanted the victims to get their money back.

Mr. Cocopardi swindled a former employee out of $19,000, her life savings, and defrauded two businesses of $25,000. The defendant's mother-in-law has promised to pay back all the victims, but only if Mr. Cocopardi is given a suspended sentence. He has until Wednesday to deliver the restitution money to authorities and will be sentenced Dec. 9.

Even though he went along with the plea bargain, Judge Miano was furious. ``I think you belong in jail,'' he told Mr. Cocopardi, when the defendant pleaded guilty.

``This situation . . . is a damn outrage and I feel remiss in my own duties to a degree because he's not being treated like everyone else,'' the judge said, adding that ``only poor black and Hispanic people are going to be in prison. Everyone else is going to buy their way out, and that's what this is.''

Such a case sours people on the justice system. A criminal has escaped punishment so that his victims can be made financially whole. There's some justice in that, but little equality. The system favors the haves over the have-nots.

True justice would see the victims paid back in full and Mr. Cocopardi in prison.